John Bates

Note: This page is for 1880s pitcher John Bates; for others with a similar name, click here.

John William Bates

• Bats Unknown, Throws Left

• Debut August 25, 1889
• Final Game August 25, 1889
• Born May 28, 1868 in Ohio USA
• Died March 24, 1919 in Oakland, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

John Bates pitched one game for the Kansas City Cowboys in 1889. Sporting Life had strong words about the event. Their September 11, 1889 issue stated: "The claim that John Bates, who was given a trial by Kansas City, was one of the best pitchers of the Texas League is ridiculous. As was the case with the Houston twirlers, Austin's pitchers were fourth-rate, and it was only their heavy batting team that saved them."

A look at the stats shows that most of the hitters on the 1889 Austin Senators hit under .250. So they hardly looked like a heavy batting team. And a look at the batting stats shows that the league apparently hit around .230 that year. ERA stats were not kept that year, but Bates, in 36 games, gave up 85 earned runs, while a couple of pitchers with more victories than Bates gave up 83 runs in 40 and 41 games. Those two other pitchers, however, led the league in victories, while John was 16-20. Additionally, John was 21 in 1889, younger than almost all of the other Texas League pitchers for whom we have ages. John Roach, who went 6-4 for another team in the league, was also 21.